Did I miss something here? The government is telling the princely couple to not have anymore children? Just because of the constitution?? That's horrible, IMO!!!

Hypothetically speaking, if the government 'orders' them from having more children and the princess becomes pregnant again, what would happen in that case? Would they make her (for lack of a better word here) abort?

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Did I miss something here? The government is telling the princely couple to not have anymore children? Just because of the constitution?? That's horrible, IMO!!!

Hypothetically speaking, if the government 'orders' them from having more children and the princess becomes pregnant again, what would happen in that case? Would they make her (for lack of a better word here) abort?

Oh no, abortion is out of the question, that is never an alternative in a catholic country. All they could do is pray that it will be a girl again

I think it is dangerous to change the Constitution with all this nationalist problems. If they change here others would like to change other parts... seems dangerous to me and a bit unfair to other most important affairs.

Unless Letizia gives birth to a son there is no rush to change it anyway. It will be the decision of the princes to leave as it is with Leonor becoming the heiress or, with going for another child, risk lots of controversy because a) traditionalists want a son and him to be king b) other people think women should have equal rights and the constitution should be changed with the consequence of Leonor as Queen despite having a brother c) the changing of the constitution topic could turn against / question the monarchy as institution itself as public opinions vary and lots of factors are involved.

In countries where the male heir is being preferred there will always be pressure on the woman to give birth to a son, to continue the tradition. It would have been the same in Britain but Diana did her "duties" well. The Dutch have a tradition of female monarchs and have always been liberal on the topic; in Britain there were greatest ever women monarchs but only because the male heir was missing, even QE II wasn't supposed to become the monarch when she was born so Queen Mum did not feel any pressure regarding a male heir. Women proved in the past that they are absolutely capable of the top job but still, a male heir represents the ancient idea of monarchy and tradition.

I hope it is Letizia of Spain. She needs to give birth to a son in order to strengthen her position after all.

Strengthen her position? This is 2010 and not 1536. Letizia is not Catherine of Aragon......her position is fine. And so is her daughter. If Felipe and Letizia don't have a son, Lenor will be a Queen of Spain.

Strengthen her position? This is 2010 and not 1536. Letizia is not Catherine of Aragon......her position is fine. And so is her daughter. If Felipe and Letizia don't have a son, Lenor will be a Queen of Spain.

Well, in that case, I had the impression that Infanta Elena comes first... I don't know, do you think they can just "skip" her?

I may be wrong but the law of succesion in Spain did not change yet. Felipe is now next in line because the eldest male, legitimate child of the monarch inherits the throne.
If the law remains as is and primogeniture applies, Elena will be next in line to succeed if there are no male legitimate heirs.
That said, Felipe may change the law and the Cortes may accept the change, after Felipe becomes King and if Letizia does not give birth to a male child.

That doesn't make sense to me. I thought the Spanish used the same system the British use (and the Danes used up until recently) - male children get preference, but females can take the throne if there is no male. Leonor should be able to be Queen under the current law unless Letizia suddenly has a son, in which case he becomes King unless the law is changed.

The only way Leonor would be denied the throne under the current no-male-heir situation would be if the Spanish used the system the Danes had up until 1953 and the Norwegians had up until the 70s - females can't inherit at all. If that's the case, then not only can Leonor not be Queen, neither can Elena or Cristina.

I may be wrong but the law of succesion in Spain did not change yet. Felipe is now next in line because the eldest male, legitimate child of the monarch inherits the throne.
If the law remains as is and primogeniture applies, Elena will be next in line to succeed if there are no male legitimate heirs.
That said, Felipe may change the law and the Cortes may accept the change, after Felipe becomes King and if Letizia does not give birth to a male child.

So, you are saying that Felipe's children will be bypassed altogether because they are both girls. But, Elena who is also a woman would inherit? I would think they would bypass her as well due to male preference and go for Juan Froilan. That makes more sense to me.

But, as others have said before, Spain follows male preference primogeniture like the UK and Monaco. So at present, Felipe is the heir and his children after him unless he has a male child which will automatically overtake his sisters in the line of succession. If the couple don't have anymore children, then Leonor will inherit after Felipe. If Leonor has no children then Sofia will inherit and if Sofia doesn't have any children then Elena will inherit the throne.

Btw, I thought the debate that happened after Leonor's birth had more to do with changing the male preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. I thought the issue was being debated because they wanted Leonor to become Queen regardless of whether she has a brother or not. Or maybe I am dreaming this stuff Can anyone confirm or deny?

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I think it would be problem if Letizia had a boy that's why they are not having any more children and that's why they announced that Sofia was a girl even before she was born.
Right now Leonor will be queen one day - but only if she won't have a brother. With the current legal situation, the boy would be the heir. This would be unacceptable for a lot of people today in modern Spain. That's why they would have to change the law.
But if they changed the law so that the firstborn would be the heir regardless of gender, Elena would become Queen after her father's death not Felipe.
I think this is the whole problem. Felipe has been raised to be the heir not Elena so if they changed the law they would need to find a way to bypass Elena somehow.